With the increasing difficulty of finding and producing oil from oil bearing rock formations other sources of hydrocarbons have been subject to intense investigation in recent years. Tar sands, oil shale, coal and lignite are just some examples of such other hydrocarbon sources. Many processes have been described in the art for recovery of hydrocarbon from such minerals and/or for the conversion of such minerals into recoverable hydrocarbons. It is known that diatomaceous earth can be an attractive candidate for hydrocarbon recovery. The prior art describes solvent extraction of oil from diatomite ore. Such a process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,617. This prior art process utilizes a solvent extraction wherein a micella of oil in hydrocarbon solvent is mixed with the diatomite and the slurry is heated to near the boiling point of the solvent.